Seeing With New Eyes
by LittleKnux2008
Summary: Upon her return to the Genii, Sora finds herself face to face with her former commander.


**Author's Note: **Again: another old songfic I decided to post here, only without lyrics. You can find the version with lyrics underneath this note (just remove the spaces). This was written after I heardabout Sora being traded back to the Genii in "The Siege, Part II." I hope you enjoy!  
**Spoilers: **"Underground", "The Storm", "The Eye", "The Siege"

littleknux2008 . livejournal . com / 7062 . html

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She couldn't believe it when the Lantians had told her they were letting her go, letting her return to her people. It was obvious that she was a part of some sort of bargain, but it still surprised her that they'd return a prisioner. But then again, these people worked differently than any she'd known. They cared about each other more than their own existence; they'd risk it all for one life. The concept had left her confused when she'd first realized it. Her people would call it a weakness, she was certain. But the Lantians had beaten the Genii, even though the odds had been against them.

Even her own people surprised her now. When she'd come through the other side of the 'gate she'd been uneasy. What would they do to her; a fool, a traitor, a worthless soldier? She'd been expecting a verbal lashing at best. Realistically, she'd wondered if they would kill her to make her an example to all other soldiers, to tell them that failure was not acceptable. Instead, with faces tight with disgust, a group of men had escorted her to the underground and then to a building on the outskirts of the city. They'd walked through the city, leaving a trail of whispers and gossip behind them.

Left alone with nothing to entertain herself but her own thoughts for weeks, there were a lot of things she'd considered. Her experience on Atlantis had bought her a new point of view, and things seemed so different here in the city now. The Genii were a civilization built on the concept of the strongest will survive - and the strongest did survive. But there was something, some element, which the Lantians had that the Genii did not. Maybe they all weren't the strongest, but they bonded together and formed a powerful entity that was far greater than any of the Genii armies.

With an objective view, she'd realized how much she, and everyone else, had been used; fit to the mold. As a child, her parents had sent her to training camps. There they destroyed childhood innocence and imagination in swift blows with no regard to the human mind. Then they methodically destroyed everything: memories, love of others, and happiness. After they'd torn the children into pieces, they'd used new pieces to build them back again; told them how to think, showed them how to fight, taught them how to rebuild people like they'd been rebuilt. She'd been one among thousands and thousands.

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Now she stood in a large, empty room. The guards had left, the door shutting and locking as they did so. She immediately recognized it as a room she'd trained in before. The memory seemed like that of a different person. Even now she could remember the drive she'd had to be the best, to be a weapon, to kill. That was her purpose in life: to be the best soldier she could be. Atlantis had shown her love, friendship, and things she'd never known before, things she wished she would have in her life.

Her eyes focused on the man as he stepped into the room. He wore the traditional Genii soldier uniform, and she recognized him immediately: Kolya. She'd respected him, trusted him, before, but now all she could see when she looked at him was nothing more than a programmed, bloodthirsty man. He'd done nothing to be respected for. The two stared at each other as he stopped directly across from her.

"You reek of them," those were the words he spoke, his expression emotionless.

Sometimes she'd wished that the Lantians would eventually trust her. She'd dreamed of proving herself to them and how they'd accept her as one of their own. Looking into Kolya's eyes as he spoke, she realized that he knew that. He could see through her without batting an eye. Her former commander stepped closer, and she found herself snapping to a fighting stance that he'd taught her years ago. At this realization, she immediately forced herself back to a normal pose. She wanted nothing more to do with the Genii.

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"They allowed you back because you are my soldier," he informed her. "You are my disappointment, and they saw it fit for me to punish you as I like." He clasped his hands behind his back. "The Lantians have poisoned your mind." She stood motionless, her eyes following him as he paced back and forth slowly. "I will give you the cure." Kolya walked up to her, dark eyes flashing. "Kneel before me."

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She glared at himin return. To kneel before him would be to give up, to let herself go back to being who she was. Did she want that? More importantly, did she have any other opinions? Even if she denied Kolya, what would she do? The Genii were not above torture. If she couldn't be reprogrammed to fit their mold, then they would kill her. Slowly, she bent one knee, beginning to kneel. A smile slid across Kolya's face.

That smile. Anger and emotions she never knew she'd felt for this man engulfed every inch of her, and she wanted everything but to kneel to him in an expression of submission. It was her life on the line, but she couldn't do it; couldn't give him this pleasure. She put her weight on her front foot and swung her leg behind her. It slammed into Kolya's ankles, and he hit the floor hard. Knowing he wouldn't stay down long, she stood, quickly walking over toward the side of the room and grabbing a sparring pole.

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She tested the pole's weight in her hands as Kolya slowly stood up, staring at her. He didn't look surprised; he never looked surprised. Swallowing tightly, she charged forward, swinging the pole toward his chest. He caught the end of the pole effortlessly and tugged it toward him so their faces were only a foot apart, and then backhanded her across the face. She tumbled to the ground but quickly rolled away, grabbing another pole from outside of the painted circle on the floor.

"I'll never go back," she whispered, her eyes wide as she stood up.

"Have it your way," he replied, and lunged at her. She blocked his overhead strike and dodged the follow-up horizontal swing, rolling out of the way. "You'll never win," he told her as he slowly advanced on her.

"No?" she questioned, jabbing at his stomach with the end of the pole. He knocked the strike aside with his own weapon. She stood up and faced him as he spoke.

"I've always beaten you," he reminded her, and they began to circle each other slowly, a calm fighting dance. "You are controlled by your emotions. Real fighters are impartial, emotionless."

Again she was reminded of the Lantians. "You always win, don't you?" she questioned in reply.

"Always," he spoke the words like a promise.

"You couldn't capture Atlantis," she told him, and smiled when his eyes darkened. "Forget about that, did you? They weren't real fighters, though. Real fighters don't show emotions. Whoever isn't a real fighter is weak and pathetic. So, I guess you got beat by a pathetic bunch of weaklings."

"You know nothing."

"Oh, I know something. I know I want out. I want out of this life, this city, the Genii. I don't want to watch as you program everyone to do your bidding; I don't want to have to always take orders from somebody." She watched calmly, patiently, as her words sunk in.

"You were one of my best students," he told her finally. "Almost like a daughter to me." There wasn't a shred of warmth in his voice as he spoke those words. The calmness that always surrounded him was eerie now.

"A daughter?" she was sickened now. Did all of the Genii act like this? Had **she** acted as this? "We had such a wonderful, close relationship, I can see why you'd say that," she said, sarcasm lacing her voice. "You criticized me at every turn, tried to destroy my feelings, my emotions, my memories. Is that what you call a daughter? You trained me as a vessel. A vessel to deliver pain and suffering and death. You didn't allow me to be anything but that."

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"What else do you need to be?" he questioned, "What else do you think you're good for? You haven't the mind of a scientist. What good are you to anyone if you're not a soldier? You're worthless, Sora. You at least had a purpose then. Now you're nothing."

"Then why am I here?" she questioned, stepping closer to him. "Why did you trade me back? Because I meant something to someone. You allowed me back because you all hated me. Funny thing; I thought we were all supposed to be real fighters, not feeling emotions and all that. You play yourselves up to be big and bad but you're the ones that are nothing. Your lives are nothing but war. There's more to life, but you don't have it. You'll never have it. You take life and squash it out of everyone at an early age. The Genii aren't to be respected or feared."

"You say 'the Genii' and 'you' like you're not one of us," Kolya said stoically, tilting his head. "You are one of us, Sora, and you'll always be."

"No," she stepped back, shaking her head.

"You will forever be a Genii. There's no denying it. What we've taught you is ingrained into your soul."

"The Genii don't have souls!" she screamed. "You're all just empty shells."

"We, Sora, we."

"No. I feel. I'm alive. You're nothing but a machine." She turned around, showing her back to him, dismissing him. "I was like that once. Always taking orders, never questioning. I was your vessel. Your arm, your weapon." She turned, eyes flaring, her weapon at the ready. "Those days are over, Kolya."

"As are yours," he replied, readying his weapon as well.

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She struck first and he blocked it with an easy swipe. It amazed her how quickly the way of fighting washed over her, reclaimed her. Somehow it didn't seem as if she hadn't been here in months. Her skills were just as sharp, her anger and resentment building up a power behind each strike as they battled.

The poles brutally collided with soft flesh, leaving angry purple bruises there. Neither of them appeared to be ahead until Kolya brought his pole down hard on her wrist. Her pole clattered to the floor, and with a powerful blow, he brought it against her face. She collapsed to the floor, her face burning, blood gathering in her mouth. All the same she turned to face him.

"You were great," he said simply, and drew the pole back, aiming to crash it against her skull, aiming to kill her. He brought it down with frightful force. She flipped backward, and the pole crashed against the floor, the sound echoing loudly in the room.

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"I am great," she told Kolya, who was still staggering from the aftershock of his missed blow. She leapt forward, as swift as a cat. Her foot knocked the pole aside, her hand going behind her to draw the blade that she kept hidden in the small of her back. She landed just before him, the knife plunging into his chest, into his heart. He gasped in pain.

"You've got nothing in there," she whispered, and yanked the blade out of him, earning another gasp. "Shouldn't hurt." She stepped backward and watched as her mentor, her guide, her commander, her friend, fell to the floor, blood spurting out of his chest, slowly spreading. Her eyes were expressionless as she stared at the pool of crimson gel that was forming.

Kolya pressed his hand to the wound to try and stop the bleeding, though they both knew it was pointless. He would die in minutes. He craned his neck, looking up at her as the unbearable pain coursed through his body. "You'll always be a Genii," he whispered, blood spilling over his lips, a white glaze forming over his eyes.

"No," she told him firmly, superiorly. "I'll always be a soldier. But I'll never be like you."

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End file.
